Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch Edition

Real page turner?

If you can't be bothered with the palaver of the Sony media manager, or are a Linux user, you can simply drag and drop content directly onto the Reader from any old OS.

The original reader (left) and the 600

Sony reckons the Touch's battery is good for 7500 page turns, up from 7000 on the original Reader. We couldn't think of an effective way to test that claim which didn't involve flicking a page every second for over two hours, so we are just going to take Sony's word for it.

While the old PRS-505 was priced at around £200, the new 600 will set you back £250. So you're paying an extra 50 quid to get a touchscreen, a price that put its on top of the e-book reader pile. And you no longer get the rather fine "book cover" that the 505 came with but instead an altogether cheaper, if functional padded slip case.

Verdict

The new Reader carries across all the strengths of the original but combines them with a touchscreen UI that makes navigation much easier. It also brings some handy new functionality to the party, including an excellent built-in dictionary, and the ability to make and save notes and memos.

Sony has missed an opportunity by not beefing up the music player – the addition of ID tag support would have been welcome. The £50 price increase is not welcome, and we wonder if the £180 5in, Reader Pocket Edition won't be the better buy. ®